Surprise News
by kellicb
Summary: this is a sequel to Surprise Return  figured I'd stay with the "surprise" theme . It will be a few chapters long. A moment in time not long after Lois/Clark got married. Just the beginning of what their life could be like as the Kent family.
1. Chapter 1

So this ended up longer than I realized…..probably considered longer than a short story but it's not going to be a real long story either. Enjoy!

**Surprise News - 1**

Lois paces around the family room. Clark has been gone all night and hasn't left word. She keeps calling her news sources to see if anyone has seen Superman in the past 12 hours.

So far, no one has.

"Are you sure? He's not helping with a landslide or cave-in somewhere?" she asks the news agency on the end of the line.

"No ma'am. Usually someone in the US calls us to report that they saw him but nothing since 5 days ago."

She nods. The fire on the 98th floor in the building in New York.

"Okay, thank you."

She hangs up and touches her stomach.

Just then her almost 4 year-old daughter enters the family room.

"Mommy," Ella whines.

She walks into the family room with her hair pointing every which way and she has makeup all over her face.

Lois bites her lower lip to keep from laughing.

"Something happen?" Lois asks, setting the phone down.

Ella nods and lowers her head. "I'm pwaying dress up. I can't get the comb out of my hair."

Just as Lois starts to walk towards her daughter, the phone rings.

"Hold on, baby. This might be important," Lois says, grabbing the phone. "Hello."

"Hey, I just got your 20 messages," Chloe says on the other end of the line. "Any word, yet?"

"No…..Chlo, please tell me you're at Watchtower and you're looking him up right now," Lois says, trying not to panic.

"Lois, you need to stay calm. You getting upset won't be good for Ella. I'm sure he's just in the middle of a crises and can't get to a phone."

"But I've called all my contacts around the world and no one has seen him. Not for days."

"Days? I thought you said he left last night!"

"Right, he did….but as far as Superman goes, they hadn't seen him in a few days. But he left the house last night around 8pm."

"You sure it was 8?" Chloe asks. She starts typing away on her keyboard.

"Yeah. I'm positive. It was 8 on the nose." She smiles to herself because only she knows why she remembers that it was exactly 8.

"Okay. I'm going to check my database and also get the other JL members to check in and see if they've heard anything."

"I've already gotten in touch with Dinah, she hasn't heard from him," Lois adds quickly.

"Okay."

Lois sits down on the couch and Ella walks over to her, sensing that her mommy is upset.

"Lois…..we'll find him. He's fine, I know he is."

"I know. I'd feel it if something really bad had happened to him. But I still want to find him for peace of mind."

"I know. I'll call you back."

"Thanks, Chloe. I love you."

"I love you, too."

They hang up and Lois absentmindedly runs her hand down Ella's hair.

"Ow," she says when she runs it right into the comb. "You really do have a comb stuck in your hair."

She looks her daughter over again and shakes her head. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Get the comb out?" Ella questions, not getting Lois' teasing tone.

"Good idea. Now, this might hurt a little," she says, starting to pull the hair away from the comb. Then she realizes who she's talking to. "Or maybe not….. How did you get your hair this tangled?" Lois asks shaking her head.

Ella shrugs.

"Daddy at work?" Ella asks.

Lois pauses before answering. "Yes."

"Will he be back in time to watch the Smuwfs wiff me?" she asks.

"I don't know, honey. He has an important assignment he's working on."

"Okay," Ella says sadly.

It breaks Lois' heart.

This is going to be the hard part about being married to and having children by Superman. She'll have to make up excuses for him many times in their lives. At least until they're old enough to understand. But even then…..will they really understand?

Lois works on Ella's hair a little while longer. It actually keeps her mind off of worrying about Clark.

"There…..the comb is out, but we really need to wash and condition your hair in order to get those tangles out. I'll wash it in the kitchen sink," Lois says, standing up and taking Ella's hand.

She grabs the step stool and places it in front of the sink.

"I'm going to get your shampoo and conditioner, I'll be right back."

Lois grabs the phone and calls Chloe on her way upstairs to the bathroom.

"Any word?" Lois asks.

"Not yet," Chloe shakes her head. "The last he was seen was in Italy. A riot broke out and he was stopping that but that was 10 hours ago. No one is sure where he went after that…..so far."

Lois sits down on the lid of the toilet seat once she reaches the bathroom.

"Do you have any way of finding where the largest deposits of green Kryptonite are? We need to start looking there…."

"Lois…."

"I'm serious. I know it can't all be in Smallville. Or even if it is…."

"I can try," Chloe says, just trying to appease her cousin. "Flash is out super speeding around trying to find him. Aquaman is swimming around Europe to see if he can get any word. We have people out there looking for him."

"I know," Lois says, closing her eyes.

"Mommy!" Ella yells from downstairs.

"I have to go….mommy duties. Call me…."

"You know I will. Bye."

Lois hangs up and grabs the hair products she needs.

Lois helps Ella spend the rest of the day playing dress up. She does her makeup and redoes her hair, without getting the comb caught.

"Would you like tea, mommy?" Ella asks.

They're sitting at Ella's small table set.

"Yes, please," Lois says before checking the time again.

She hasn't heard from Chloe in an hour.

"Mommy, you're making the table shake," Ella says, noticing Lois' tapping leg.

"Oh, sorry."

Lois stops. She's trying really hard to pay attention to her daughter and not worry about her husband.

The phone rings and Lois jumps up, bumping the table as she does. Ella grabs the small china set before it falls and glares at Lois.

Lois runs to her bedroom. "Hello," she says, trying to catch her breath.

"Lois…."

"Ollie? Ollie…where is he?"

"Watchtower just got word….."

Lois sits down on the bed and swallows. Her heart starts beating twice as fast and her hands start to shake.

"What is it?" she almost whispers. Tears start streaming down her face. She prepares herself for the worst.

"He's been hurt pretty badly. J'onn Jones has taken him to The Fortress…..Jor-El will know what to do."

"How bad, Ollie? What happened?"

"We don't know exactly how it happened but he fell off of a cliff made of green K. On his way down he scraped himself on the rocks pretty bad."

Lois covers her mouth with her hand and the tears fall easily down her face.

"He also landed on the Kryptonite rocks at the bottom of the ravine and we're not sure how long he was there. Bart found him…."

"Where was this?"

"Outside of Smallville."

"I need to get to him…..can you help me? Can Chloe help me?" she asks, standing up. She starts looking around the room for something…what it is, she's not sure.

"J'onn is coming there as we speak. He'll take you. Dress warmly…."

"Ella," Lois says.

"Chloe is on her way right now. We'll take care of Ella."

Lois closes her eyes. "Thank you."

The doorbell rings and Lois hangs up on Ollie.

She runs downstairs as fast as she can. When she opens the door and lets Chloe in, the two embrace.

"How are you holding up?" Chloe asks.

"I don't know. I feel numb. How bad is he?"

Chloe shakes her head. "I don't know. Only Bart and J'onn have seen him. J'onn's on his way, did Oliver tell you?"

Lois nods.

"Lois…it was your suggestion about finding the large deposits of Kryptonite that led us to him."

"I'm glad I thought of it….."

They both notice something moving in the backyard. It's J'onn.

"Aunt Chloe!" Ella says excitedly when she sees her aunt from the top of the stairs.

"Hey kiddo….you want to come to my house and play with Henry for a little bit?"

Ella looks at her mom and then back at Chloe.

"Mommy and I were having a tea pawty."

"It's okay baby," Lois says, trying not to sound rushed. "I just got called in for work so you go stay with Aunt Chloe and Uncle Ollie for a little bit today…."

"Can I bring my dress up clothes?" she asks, looking down at the oversize clothes she has on.

Lois looks at Chloe with urgency in her eyes.

"I'll take care of this. You go get your coat and meet J'onn out back."

Lois runs up the stairs. "You be good for Aunt Chloe….I love you very much." She leans down and hugs and kisses Ella.

"Love you too, mommy," she says as she watches Lois run into her bedroom.

Chloe reaches the top of the stairs.

"Come on….I'll help you get changed into your normal clothes and you can bring a couple of these outfits with you," Chloe says, taking Ella's hand and leading her back to her bedroom.

Within a couple of minutes, Lois is dressed warmly and meets J'onn outside.

"How is he?" she asks before anything else.

J'onn shakes his head. "I have never seen him like this. Jor-El was trying to heal him when I left. He had a lot of the Kryptonite in his bloodstream."

Lois bites her lip and tries not to cry. She nods.

"He was calling for you so I told him I would bring you to him."

"Thank you," she says.

J'onn nods once and puts his arms around her waist.

"Hold on tight, Mrs. Kent….."

Lois does as he says.


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, from what I can tell this will about 4 chapters….longer chapters than the last story, though.

**Surprise News - 2**

When J'onn lands outside of The Fortress, Lois zips up her coat and pulls the collar up more around her ears.

"Are you coming in with me?" she asks.

He shakes his head. "No. I will leave but will check up on Kal-El later."

"Oh okay…..thank you, again."

He nods before flying away.

Lois walks into The Fortress. She'd only been here once. Clark brought her up here once they were engaged. He wanted Jor-El to "meet" her. Jor-El never did make his presence known that day but she was sure he knew that Lois was there. She even felt somewhat of an approval from Clark's biological father.

"Hello," Lois says, once inside.

"Lois Lane, welcome!" a large voice booms.

Lois jumps a little.

"Where's Clark? I need to see my husband."

A light shows a path to the corner so she follows it. There's a little area that's more secluded, almost like it's a bedroom. Clark is laying out on the makeshift bed. Lois feels a little warmer in this area so she unzips her coat.

"Clark," she says, running toward him. She kneels down beside him and puts one hand on his chest and the other strokes his cheek.

"Clark….baby, can you hear me?"

Clark moans and his head starts to thrash a little.

"Lois," he mumbles.

"I'm right here." She kisses his cheek.

His eyes slowly open. He smiles. "Lois," he says, barely above a whisper.

"Hi," she smiles. "How are you feeling? Are you in pain, still?" she asks, looking him up and down.

"It's lessening. Every once in awhile Jor-El shoots this beam of light at me and it takes a lot out of me but I feel better afterwards. How….how did you get here?" he asks.

"J'onn flew me here."

He smiles and shuts his eyes. "You cheating on me? I thought I'd be the only one to take you flying."

She softly chuckles and strokes his hair away from his face. "Well, I made an exception this once. I hope you can forgive me."

He keeps his eyes closed but still smiles. "I guess."

She smiles. He's still teasing so that's a good sign.

"How is Ella?"

"She's fine. I told her you got called into work. She missed you today, though."

"I always miss her when I'm not with her."

"Clark…..what happened? How did you end up on that cliff?"

"I…." he starts but a ray of light shines down on him, knocking Lois out of the way.

She watches in horror as Clark is engulfed in this light. He screams in pain. She tries to reach for him but the light is acting like a force field, pushing her away.

"Stop that, you're hurting him!" she stands up and screams.

"I understand your concern for my son but this is ridding him of the poison in his blood," Jor-El's voice booms out.

She helplessly watches Clark and wipes away her tears.

As soon as the light disappears, Lois kneels down next to Clark again. She continues to smooth back his hair and touch his face.

"Clark," she says. "Clark….baby, can you hear me?"

His head is thrashing around and he continues to moan.

"Clark."

"Lois," he says hoarsely.

"I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

After a few minutes, Clark opens his eyes. He tries to sit up.

"Clark, you're too weak, don't try."

But he sits up anyway.

"I'm feeling better."

He pulls her to sit next to him on the "bed" and he wraps his arms around her.

"I'm so glad you're here," he whispers against her hair.

"I'm just glad we found you. You started to say why you were there…."

Clark loosens his grip on her a little. "I'm not sure. I remember hearing a cry for help, so I followed the voice. The last thing I remember was standing on top of that ravine and I don't know what happened. I guess the Kryptonite just overpowered me quickly."

"Did you ever see anyone?"

He shakes his head no.

"Clark, you don't think someone found out about your weakness and lured you there, do you?" Lois asks, starting to panic.

Clark places his hand on her leg. "No. I think it was a coincidence."

But he's not really sure about that himself.

"I'm going to try to stand up," he says, starting to push himself off of the "bed".

"Clark, I don't know if that's a good idea…." she starts but he sits right back down.

"Yeah, not yet. Maybe after the next treatment."

"The next treatment? Clark, I don't know….."

He stops her by pulling her close and kissing her. She's a little surprised by this move but quickly melts into his embrace and the kiss. For a moment, she even forgets where they are.

"I'll be fine," he smiles against her lips.

"You are already _fine_," she sighs, which makes him chuckle.

"I'm sorry I made you worry," he says, tucking her under his arm again. She rests her head against his shoulder.

"I want to say it's okay, but it's hard. But I knew what I signed up for when I married you. I just always want you to come back to us."

"I will." He kisses the top of her head. "Oh hey….you said something about a surprise before I had to take off last night….do I get to find out what it was?"

She looks around the area. This isn't exactly the setting she was picturing.

"Well….." she takes a deep breath. "I really wanted you to experience the entire thing with me. Starting with the pregnancy test….."

"Lois…"

She stops him by touching his lips. "Last night, when I told you I had the surprise for you, I went into the bathroom and took the test. You know, peed on the stick."

He smiles and nods.

"I came out into the bedroom with the stick and was going to wait for the results with you but that's when you had already left…."

He lowers his head but lets her finish.

"So, I put the stick back in the bathroom to wait for you….so we could look at it together."

He looks at her expectantly.

"So….are we?" he asks.

She shrugs. "I don't know. I never did look at it. I want us to look at it together."

He chuckles and shakes his head. "I know how hard that must be for you to wait."

"Honestly, when I woke up this morning and hadn't even gotten a text from you, I was more worried about that."

He shakes his head. "I wish I could remember more about what happened."

"All that matters is that you're going to be fine. When do you think we'll be able to go home?" she asks, rubbing her hands up and down her legs to try to get them warmer.

"You cold?"

"Only a little. It's not as cold back here….or in your arms," she smiles.

He wraps her in his arms tighter.

"So, do you think we are pregnant?" Clark asks.

They had been sitting there quietly for almost 30 minutes.

"I think so…..if my calculations are correct, I think I'm about 7 weeks along."

"I can ask Jor-El."

Lois sits up a little and looks at Clark. "Really? He would be able to tell?"

Clark nods. "He can tell how many life forces there are in The Fortress."

She gnaws on her lower lip for a few seconds. "Okay. We're still finding out together, right? Just not in the normal, human way…."

Clark smiles. "Jor-El!"

A few moments go by.

"Yes, my son."

"Can you tell us if Lois is carrying my child?"

Clark takes Lois' hand and squeezes it.

"There are 3 life forces in The Fortress," the voice booms.

Lois and Clark look at each other.

"Three?" Clark asks, just to be sure.

"Yes. Two are very strong and one is not as strong but is developing."

Lois smiles and her eyes get watery. She touches her stomach.

"So I am pregnant?" she asks, more to herself than to anyone.

"Yes, Lois, you are with child. A Kryptonian child."

"Well, I'd hope so," Clark teases.

Lois nudges Clark in the side.

"Congratulations, my son…and my daughter. Kal-El, it is time for another treatment."

"Oh….okay," Lois says, looking at Clark. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he says, kissing her before he gently pushes her away. "I don't want you to get hurt…."

Just at that moment, the beam of light shows up again and this time, Clark's screams are even louder than the last time. Maybe because his body seems to be able to handle more. Lois closes her ears and watches the man she loves go through this helpful torture. She can't stop the tears from streaming down her face, again. Not only from watching Clark go through this but because she's pregnant and Clark is going to be able to share this with her. She's feeling just a tad bit emotional right now.

When the beam disappears, Clark lays limply on the "bed". He doesn't move, which frightens Lois.

"Clark….." she goes back over to him again. She knows she just needs to wait. Shaking him and saying his name over and over isn't going to do any good.

After a few minutes, his arm starts to move.

"Clark…."

Another few minutes go by and he moves his head around. He slowly opens his eyes.

Lois smiles at him. "Hi…..can you move, yet?"

He blinks a few times and tries to move his arms or legs but they feel too heavy right now. He shakes his head no.

She tries not to look worried. "Okay….we'll just wait a few more minutes."

She gently strokes his cheek.

"Do you remember what we found out before the treatment?"

He smiles weakly and nods.

"We're going to get to go through this pregnancy together this time. It will be nice to have someone there to rub my lower back and feet," she smiles.

He smiles again.

He looks so tired.

"Maybe you need to rest after this one. I can go take a walk," she says as she starts to stand up but he reaches out and grabs her hand.

When she looks down at him he shakes his head no, so she sits back down next to him and continues to stroke his face.

He does finally fall asleep, though. She's not sure for how long but once the tiredness reaches her, she stretches out and lays next to him, resting her cheek against his chest.

When Lois wakes up, she's tucked under a blue blanket. She looks around and smiles when she sees Clark standing tall, smoothing out his Superman uniform.

"Hey, why didn't you wake me?" Lois asks, sitting up.

"You need the rest," he says, sitting down next to her. He gently kisses her and touches her stomach.

She rolls her eyes. "You're not starting that already, are you?"

"Yes," he says before giving her another quick kiss on the lips and standing up.

"We should get back," he says, holding out his hand.

"Oh," she says, standing up and taking his hand. "Are you sure you're okay to fly?"

"If I'm not, we'll super speed. You've been here a long time. Ella will be wondering where her parents are."

He lifts her into his arms.

"I've only been gone a few hours. We'll probably make it back in time for dinner."

"In The Fortress, a few hours ends up being almost twice as long in the outside world," he says as he walks to the entrance to the ice palace.

"Twice as much? Oh my God…Ella must be so scared that we left her…."

"I'm sure whoever is taking care of her is explaining that we'll be back soon. By the way, who is taking care of her?"

"She's at Chloe and Oliver's."

"Okay, to Chloe and Oliver's we go then. Hold tight."

She holds on tighter just as he flies them away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Surprise News - 3**

When Lois and Clark reach the Queen mansion, Lois realizes that it's the next morning. She worries that Ella was scared since neither Clark nor Lois were there.

Clark lands them in the massive backyard. There's no one around for miles so there's no worry that they'll be seen.

Chloe is the first one to notice them and she runs out to the back patio.

"Thank God," she says, clutching her chest.

Lois and Clark start walking toward the patio and Clark quickly changes along the way. Lois is the first to reach Chloe. The two embrace.

"Are you guys okay?" Chloe asks.

Lois nods and looks back at Clark. "We are now."

Clark and Chloe now hug.

"I was so scared that we night have lost you," she says so only he can hear.

He nods when they pull apart.

"I'm fine."

"Chloe, where's the fire," Oliver yells from inside the doorway. Once he reaches the opened door to the patio, he stops, smiles and shakes his head. "It's about damn time you showed up. Ella's been asking for her daddy to play pretty pretty princess and I was not about to go there…."

They all laugh, except Chloe who rolls her eyes and mouths to Lois, yes he would have.

Oliver hugs both Clark and Lois.

"So, everything is okay?" he asks.

"Yeah. I flew here with no problems so I think the Kryptonite is almost completely out of my system. Thank you guys, for doing what you did to find me."

"Hey, we're a team. And it really was a team effort."

"Uncwe Ollie…..you forgot the crown," Ella yells from inside.

Lois is the first to reach the door leading to the living room. She sees Ella start heading toward the hallway since she couldn't find Oliver.

"Maybe I can wear the crown," Lois says as she steps inside.

Ella screams and throws the crown down and pretty much super speeds over to Lois, knocking her down. "Mommy!"

Clark gets worried and rushes over to them. "Ella, you need to be very careful with mommy, now," he says, kneeling besides them.

Chloe and Oliver look at each other with raised eyebrows.

"I'm fine," Lois says, standing up on her knees and hugging her daughter. "I'm sorry I was gone longer than I thought."

"It's okay. Did you write a story about the bad guy so he can't hurt anybody anymore?" Ella asks, squeezing harder.

Lois pats her daughter's back. "Remember your strength, baby…."

"Oh, sowwy," she says, letting her mother go.

"Story about bad guys?" Lois asks, looking up at Chloe. Chloe nods. "Right…yeah, my hard work paid off, so yay!"

"Don't I get any kind of welcome?" Clark asks, holding his arms open but he doesn't even have time to finish because Ella is already in his arms. She reaches up and kisses his cheek.

"I missed you, daddy. We missed the Smuwfs."

She does squeeze Clark with all her strength and he doesn't even notice. Lois stands up and Chloe walks over to her, they wrap an arm around each other's waist and watch the father/daughter duo.

"Oh shoot…we did. We'll have to see if they have a Smurf's marathon so we can catch up," Clark says as he stands up, keeping a hold of Ella in his arms. This is one of the best feelings in the world. He opens his eyes and looks at the other best feeling in the world and smiles at her.

Lois blushes and smiles back.

"You guys hungry? I can have the cook whip up something," Oliver says.

Clark looks at Lois. She shrugs. "Sure, I can eat."

"Sounds good, thanks," Clark agrees.

"Daddy, you have to come see the fowt Henry and I built…."

"Where is it?" he asks, leaving the room, heading toward the bedrooms.

Oliver heads to the kitchen to talk to the cook.

"So?" Chloe asks Lois once they're alone.

"What?" Lois asks, but she's pretty sure she has an idea because of Clark's overprotective reaction.

Chloe gives her a "come on" look. "Are you?"

"Hungry? Yeah, I could eat a horse," Lois says, rubbing her stomach. She smiles at Chloe, knowing it's driving her nuts.

"Lois…come on. It's me, your best friend, your flesh and blood! Are you pregnant?"

Lois chuckles and then stops with a smile. "I'm 99% sure that I am. At least Jor-El told us we were….but I'll be 100% sure when we get home and look at the pregnancy test I took the night before last…."

"Oh my God….I'm so happy for you guys," Chloe says, jumping up and hugging Lois.

"Thanks. We're pretty happy, too." Lois closes her eyes and smiles. She pulls back and gets a little more serious. "It's kind of early, though so we'll probably wait to share the news with everyone else…."

"I understand. Oh, you'll tell Ollie, right? I can never lie around him, he knows my tells."

Lois chuckles. "Yes, we'll tell Ollie."

"Tell Ollie what?" Oliver asks when he rejoins them in the living room.

Both women turn, smile and look at him.

"What?" he asks again.

Chloe reaches for Lois' hand.

"I'm pregnant," Lois shrugs.

Oliver doesn't look too surprised but is very happy. "Well, congratulations," he says, pulling her into a hug. "Does Clark know?"

"Oliver," Chloe warns.

"What? I mean, he's been MIA for a couple days…."

"Yes, he knows. He was there with me when we found out from Jor-El."

"So, how does a Kryptonian voice know if you're pregnant or not?" Chloe asks out of curiosity.

"Um, well, he could tell there were 3 life forces in The Fortress."

"Mommyyyyyyyyy come see my fowt!" Ella screams from down the hall.

Lois looks toward where the voice is coming from. "I better go take a look at this amazing fort," Lois says. "You guys, thanks again, for everything. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Chloe hugs her again before they both get teary eyed.

"No thanks needed."

Lois smiles and heads down the hall towards her daughter's voice.

_Later that night at the Kent house_

"So, what did Oliver tell you after brunch?" Lois asks.

"He just wanted to congratulate me," he says.

He had just put Ella down for the night and joins Lois on the couch. Once he sits down, he pulls her legs up to rest on top of his lap. Lois adjusts to the new position. This was the first time that they've really gotten to talk to each other since they got home. Ella kept them busy non-stop. They did have time to look at the pregnancy test in the bathroom to confirm what they already knew, though.

"Uh huh and that's all?"

"Sure," he shrugs, not looking her in the eye.

"Clark," she warns.

"And he gave me some good advice in dealing with a pregnant woman…."

"A pregnant woman or me?"

Clark tries to smile to himself and not show Lois, but isn't too successful at it.

"Well, you're a pregnant woman…."

"What, did he tell you that I'd be hormonal? That I could cry at the drop of a hat? Or that I could get really angry at the smallest things? Oh and let's not forget the morning sickness, which hasn't happened yet, by the way."

"Well…."

"There's also the fact that I couldn't wear any jewelry because I was having some strange allergic reaction to it," she says moving her wedding ring around her finger. "I had cravings for garlic. Lots and lots of garlic…."

"Garlic?" Clark asks making a face.

"Yeah and Swiss cheese," she says, shaking her head at the strange memory. "I guess that's what you guys were talking about….."

"Actually, he just told me to enjoy it. He said how amazing it will be to watch my wife change as our baby grows inside her," he says sheepishly. "But thanks for the warning about everything else."

"Oh," she says, feeling silly. "I really wasn't all that bad…." she says with a wave of her hand.

Clark chuckles and leans over and kisses her.

"Mmmmmm but you know what I missed the most?" she asks in between kisses.

"What's that?" he whispers against her lips.

"I was so horny during the last two trimesters of the pregnancy and you weren't there…." she says breathlessly.

Clark groans and continues to kiss her, pulling her closer and up onto his lap.

"Mommy, there are monsters in my room," Ella says rubbing her eyes while she stands in the doorway.

Lois and Clark pull away from each other's lips and Lois rests her forehead on Clark's shoulder.

"Come here, baby," Clark says, trying to hide the fact that he's trying to catch his breath.

Ella walks over to them with her head down. He pulls her to sit up on the couch next to them.

"You know there aren't any monsters, right?" he asks.

She nods and rests her head against his arm. "But there's a noise…."

"Come on, I'll go with you to see what this noise is," Lois says standing up and holding out her hand for her daughter to take.

Ella takes her hand and the two walk to Ella's bedroom to see what this noise is. Clark sits back on the couch and watches them leave. He smiles.

He hears a cry for help in the distance and closes his eyes. The selfish part of him wants to ignore it but the Superman side of him knows he is needed outside of these four walls.

He scribbles a quick note and heads out to the backyard.

_Duty calls. I WILL be back tonight. Love, Clark._

Lois sighs and rubs her stomach as she reads it. She decides to give in to the turmoil of the last couple of days and head to bed early.

When she wakes up in the middle of the night, she gets a panicked feeling that Clark still isn't there but she sighs when she reaches over and touches his chest. His hand absentmindedly reaches for her hand and he pulls her closer to him.

She snuggles into his side and drifts back off to the best sleep she's had in 2 nights.


	4. Chapter 4

Ok, I haven't posted in a few days because I kept writing and I didn't want to post ths chapter until I was sure where/how I would end this "short" story. It's 7 long chapters. Enjoy!

**Surprise News - 4**

Right around the 3 month mark, Lois and Clark feel more comfortable about sharing their news with more than just immediate family and friends. Including Ella.

Lois felt bad keeping it from her daughter but she wanted to make sure she was through her first trimester before letting her know. Just in case. She didn't want to get Ella's hopes up and then have something bad happen.

"You like my doll?" Ella asks Clark when he walks by her one Saturday morning.

"Yes, she's very pretty. Did you dress her all by yourself?" he asks, sitting down on the couch, next to where she's sitting on the floor.

She nods.

Clark looks over at Lois and she gets the vibe from him that he feels this is a good time to tell her.

"Ella," Lois starts as she walks towards them. She sits next to Ella on the floor.

"Hmm? Did I do something bad?" she asks, wondering why her parents are looking so seriously at her.

Lois smiles up at Clark and then back down at Ella. "No honey…not at all." She strokes her daughter's cheek. "Your daddy and I have something to tell you."

"Ella, how would you like to be a big sister?" Clark asks.

Ella's face lights up. "Really?"

Lois nods and then she looks at Clark so he smiles and nods, too.

"Yeah."

"When? Now? Is it Henry?" she asks.

"I…..well, no," Lois says, realizing that Ella doesn't really understand what it means to be a big sister. "I'm going to have a baby….so we have to wait for the baby to get big enough in my tummy and then you'll have a baby brother or baby sister in a few months."

Ella processes this information.

"A baby?" she asks in awe.

Lois nods.

"Can I hold it?"

Lois chuckles. "Yes, of course you can."

"You do such a good job with your dolls, maybe you can help us pick out clothes for the baby," Clark adds.

"I can help," Ella nods. "Is it a girl baby or a boy baby?" she asks, trying to plan ahead.

"Well, we don't know, yet," Lois says.

Ella looks down at Lois' still flat stomach.

"The baby is in your tummy?" she asks.

"I'll go get the picture," Clark says, hopping up from the couch.

"Yes, the baby is so small that it can fit in my tummy. You were in here once," Lois says, rubbing her stomach.

"Nuh uh," Ella giggles.

"Yes, you were," Lois says, tapping Ella's nose.

"Here….this is all we can see of the baby now," Clark says, sitting on the floor next to his girls. He shows Ella the ultrasound.

"I don't see a baby," Ella says.

Clark points to the small white blob. "It's this white blob shaped…..thing," he shrugs for lack of a better word.

"How do you know it's a baby?" she asks, studying the picture.

"Well, the doctor does. He told us," Lois says, already getting exhausted from her daughter's million questions.

"Can I ask for a boy or a girl?"

Lois hides her smile and looks up at Clark.

"No honey, you can't. We don't get to choose. It's already a boy or a girl, we just don't know, yet. In a few weeks we will be able to tell….."

"Do you want to know ahead of time?" Lois asks Clark, realizing that they hadn't discussed this yet.

"I figured you did," he shrugs.

"But do you?"

"I do," Ella chimes in.

Lois pats Ella's leg but continues looking at Clark.

"I don't know. I thought I did but now that we're talking about it. It might be fun to wait and find out when he or she is born."

Lois thinks about it for a minute. "Good…we'll wait."

"Did you find out with Ella?" he asks.

"Yeah but mostly because Emil was running so many tests to make sure everything was going ok. It just kind of got thrown into the mix that we found out."

"I want a boy baby," Ella says, trying to bring the attention back to her.

"A boy? Really?" Lois asks. She thought for sure she'd want a girl to dress up like her dolls.

Ella nods. "Yes. Just like Henry. He helps me make fowts and stuff."

Lois and Clark smile at her. "But what if it's a girl?" Clark asks.

"Maybe she can pway with my tea pawty wiff me," she concludes.

"Well, good. I'm glad you have a plan for either," Lois says. "So, are you excited?"

Ella nods. "How many days?"

"Well, in about 6 months….which is a lot of days."

"Oh. I might forget by then…."

Clark chuckles. "Mommy won't let us forget…." He looks up at Lois and quickly replies when he notices her glare. "I mean because mommy's tummy will be growing."

"Very funny," Lois says.

The next Monday, Lois puts on one of her nice skirts and jackets and she's having trouble buttoning the top buttons around her chest.

"Already?" she moans, giving up.

"What?" Clark asks, emerging from their bathroom.

"I can't fit into this outfit. If I sit down in this skirt, I'll probably bust the seems and my boobs are getting bigger so I can't button the jacket," she says, throwing her hands to her sides.

Clark studies her breasts.

"Hey," she says, turning around so he quits staring. She looks in her closet for something that's a little more loose fitting.

She grabs a looser fitting blouse and a skirt that is a size bigger than the one she currently has on.

Once she gets this outfit on, she's much happier.

"Guess I need to go shopping," she shrugs.

She catches Clark staring at her again. "You looking at my boobs again?" she teases.

Clark smiles and walks over to her. He wraps his arms around her and shakes his head. "I'm just trying to picture you pregnant. I can't wait to see it…."

"I'll tell you what, you won't be able to hold me the way you are right now," she says.

"Oh, I better take advantage of it while I can," he says before leaning down to nibble her neck.

After a few seconds she slaps his shoulder. "Hey, hey, we have to get to work. No marks on my neck," she points at him.

"Yes ma'am. When does your horny stage kick in again?" he asks, watching her walk away.

Smiling to herself, she shakes her head at him as she grabs her heels and walks out of the room.

_A few weeks later….._

"That's no fair, you know?" Lois asks.

She and Clark and spread out over the couch. Clark's head is resting on her slightly protruding stomach.

"What's not?" he asks, rubbing her leg.

"You get to hear the heartbeat anytime you want," she says, running her fingers through his hair.

Clark chuckles. "Sorry."

"That's okay. I guess you're forgiven," she sighs. "Oh hey, before I forget. I am meeting a contact at a lab tomorrow before I go into the office."

Clark turns enough so he can look at Lois. "Lab?"

"Yeah, some old lab that's been shut down. Ollie got me the interview. It's an old Luthorcorp lab…."

"Lois," Clark warns as he sits up. He reaches out and cups her cheek. "That could be dangerous…."

"What? It's not like Lex will be there," she shrugs. "No one cares anymore. It's shut down."

Clark searches her eyes for more details.

"I'll be fine. I just thought it was be good for the tone of the article if I met this doctor where he used to do Luthor experiments."

He still doesn't feel right about it but he lets it go. "Just be careful, please. Keep your phone handy just in case you need to call me…"

"Clark," she stops him. "You're worrying over nothing."

She leans in and gently kisses him. He deepens the kiss and pulls her closer to him. When he moves to her neck, she runs her fingers through the back of his hair. She loves the feel of his hair through her fingers. Her eyes spring open when he starts to push her back against the couch.

"Clark," she moans.

"Hmmm?" he mumbles against her collarbone.

"Not here."

Before she can even blink, they're in their bedroom and Lois is laying on the bed. She chuckles at how quickly he got them there.

He scoots down a little and starts to work on her buttons and she watches his face.

Her superhero.

Her Superman.

He looks like a little boy opening his gifts on Christmas morning right now, which makes her chuckle.

He stops when he reaches the last button and looks up at her.

"What?" he asks.

She tries to get serious for a moment.

"Nothing…..continue."

He gives her a look that lets her know he doesn't believe her.

"Was I unbuttoning your blouse wrong?" he asks, sliding the blouse over her shoulders, touching as much skin along the way that he can.

"Oh no. you're good at that," she says.

Since he's reaching around her to discard the blouse, he figures he might as well unhook her bra while he's back there.

"I love your body right now," he says hoarsely, staring at her upper body as he removes her bra.

"You just like my big boobs," she says, pinching his arm, which of course, he doesn't feel.

He shakes his head and moves up her a little to he's laying next to her. He pushes her hair back from her shoulder and looks into her eyes.

"Oliver was right….it's wonderful watching your body change as our baby grows inside of you."

That statement and the way he said it, makes her catch her breath and she tries to keep her emotions in check.

"I love you so much," she says, pulling her to him.


	5. Chapter 5

Um, I'm not a doctor and I didn't do any research for this so these terms and tests, etc are made up. LOL

**Surprise News - 5**

_The next morning and Luthorcorp Labs…._

"Doctor Rasmus, thank you for meeting with me," Lois says when she meets the doctor in the abandoned parking lot. They shake hands.

"Not a problem, Ms. Lane. Though, I am curious as to why you wanted to meet here instead of my office," the doctor says.

She shrugs and they head toward the front doors. "I thought it might make you remember some things if we were here. Maybe some small details that you might have forgotten over the past couple of years."

She takes the key that Oliver arranged for her to get and unlocks the front door. They walk into the empty building.

"Now, what kind of experiments did you work on when you were working for Lex….I mean, Luthorcorp?" Lois asks after she's turned on the recorder.

The doctor starts walking down one of the halls, Lois follows.

"Mainly biogenetics. I was working on ways to help regenerate cells. Here," he says, pushing a door open. They both walk into a dark room that once used to be a lab. Doctor Rasmus finds the light switch and about half of the lights come on. "This room is where I helped develop what we thought was a cure for brain cancer…."

"Wow, really? Why isn't it on the market?" Lois asks.

"It wasn't something that we could have gotten approved through the FDA. The method we used to get the cells to regenerate wasn't ethical by any means."

The doctor's cell phone rings and he looks at the display. "I'm sorry, this is an important call that I should take."

"Of course," Lois says as she watches him walk out.

She starts to look around the room and takes pictures with her cell phone. She starts opening cabinet doors and drawers to see if she finds anything left in there that would be useful for the article.

She walks over to a door that looks like it might lead to a large walk-in cooler of some kind.

As soon as she opens it, she notices the green glow and doubles over in pain. She drops the recorder and the cell phone as she hit's the ground, clasping onto her stomach.

"Help," she barely spits out. "Doctor…."

She tries to reach for the door to the cooler to try to shut it, but can't reach it and she's in so much pain that she keeps her other hand on her stomach.

Her baby.

She notices that her phone is within reach of her foot so she musters up as much strength that she can to move the phone closer to her. Finally, after a few minutes, she is able to reach out and grab the cell phone.

After a few attempts, she finally pushes the right button for Clark.

"Hey, I was just thinking about you," Clark answers.

"C…Cl….Clark," she says in pain. "Help."

Within a minute Superman reaches the outside of the lab. He sees that the doctor is locked outside of the building, pulling on the doors that locked behind him.

Avoiding the doctor, Clark goes through a side door and finds Lois. As soon as he sees the green glow and starts to feel a little bit weak, he doesn't enter the room and stays out in the hallway.

"Lois," he says, with a little bit of fear in his voice, "hold on."

He looks around but finally decides to superspeed his way in there and try to shut the door before it has time to affect his abilities.

"Clark," she sputters out a little more weakly.

He takes a deep breath and superspeeds into the room, shutting the door to the cooler and picking up Lois on the way. He gently lays her down in the middle of the hallway.

"Lois," he says, brushing her sweaty hair away from her forehead. "Are you okay? Talk to me…."

"The baby," she says, clutching her stomach.

He looks her over and tries to calm himself enough to try to hear the baby's heartbeat. He can't hear anything over his own heartbeat right now so he rests his head against her stomach.

"The heartbeat is there but it's weak, Lois. I'm taking you to Emil. Hold onto me," he says, lifting her up.

He flies them to the hospital and Clark carries her into the emergency room.

"Superman!" a nurse says.

"I need Dr. Hamilton, right away," Superman says. "And I need a room for Ms. Lane."

"Right this way," the nurse says, showing him an empty exam room.

Another nurse runs to get Emil.

Within a minute, Emil enters the room, eyeing the fact that Clark, dressed as Superman is standing over Lois with a concerned look on his face.

"Thank you. I'll handle it and let you know if I need anything," Emil says, dismissing the staff from the room.

Once they're alone, Emil looks down at Lois. "What happened?" he asks.

Lois reaches for Clark's hand. He takes it by hides it by her side since he's still dressed as Superman.

"Kryptonite," Lois says softly as the tears run down her cheeks. "Emil, the baby."

"Emil," Clark says in a worried tone.

Emil nods. "I'm going to listen for the heartbeat and do an ultrasound. Why don't you change into something a little less Superman?" Emil says to Clark.

Clark nods and leaves the room. He tries to show his confidence to the onlookers who watch him as he leaves. He rounds the corner and makes sure no one sees him going into a supply closet. He quickly changes and walks back down the hall dressed as Clark Kent.

When he returns to the emergency room area, he acts like he hasn't been there, yet.

"My wife is here…Lois Lane," he says to the nurse he knows who knows where Lois is.

"She's in exam room 2, sir," she says, pointing toward the door.

Clark pushes his glasses up and nods to her. "Thank you."

He enters the exam room and shuts the door behind him.

"Have you found anything out?" he asks, taking his place on the other side of Lois.

She grabs for his hand again.

Emil is getting her stomach ready for the ultrasound.

"I just listened for the heartbeat and it's not as strong as I'd like it to be. Lois, how long were you exposed to the Kryptonite?" he asks, smearing the gel over her stomach.

"I don't know. It felt like a few minutes?"

Emil starts to move the wand over Lois' stomach.

Both Lois and Clark watch the monitor while Emil studies it.

He jots a couple of notes down in her chart.

"Is the baby okay?" Lois asks.

He moves the wand to another part of her stomach and jots down something else.

Lois and Clark give each other worried looks and Clark smiles at Lois reassuringly, gently squeezing her hand as he does.

Emil removes the wand and wipes the gel off of Lois' stomach. He pulls her shirt back down.

"Emil, please tell us," Clark says, his voice breaking a little bit.

"As you know, the baby's heartbeat is very weak."

They both nod. "But will the baby be okay?" Lois asks.

"I don't know," Emil says, hating to give them that kind of answer. "Something that small, shouldn't have been able to survive that long of exposure to Kryptonite. But, there could be other variables to consider…."

"Like what?" Clark asks.

"Like the fact that the baby is inside of a human. Even though you had a reaction to the Kryptonite because of the fetus, there might be enough human DNA in the fetus that we just need to give it time to get stronger."

"How much time? I mean, that weak of a heartbeat isn't good, right? What does that mean?" Lois asks.

Emil nods slowly. "When a heart rate is that slow, usually it just gets slower and stops. The chance of that happening is usually greater than of it getting stronger."

"Clark," Lois chokes out.

Clark grasps her hands tighter and leans down so that his forehead is touching hers.

"We can't believe that, Lois. Our baby is strong…..we have to believe you were able to call me soon enough, okay?"

Lois nods.

Clark brushes away the tears from her face.

"Is there anything you can give her or the baby?" Clark asks.

Emil scratches the back of his neck.

"Clark, the only thing that makes you stronger when you're weak from Kryptonite is the sun…."

They hear thunder in the background and all look out the window as it starts to rain.

"I can fly her up above the storm clouds. It wouldn't hurt to try it, would it?"

"My only worry is that if and when Lois' heart rate increases that it will affect the baby's and not in a positive way."

Lois looks back up at Clark and searches his eyes, trying to figure out what he's thinking right now.

"Let's try it," she says.

"Lois, you need to try to stay calm and breathe evenly," Emil says, touching her arm. "I'll be here waiting for you….good luck."

"Thanks," Clark says taking Lois' hand and helping her off of the table.

They head up to the roof of the hospital. Clark quickly changes back into his Superman outfit before they head outside. He opens the door to the roof and the wind picks up and the rain starts to hit them in the face.

"Ready?" Clark yells above the noise of the storm.

Lois grabs onto Clark's neck and pushes her face into his shoulder. "Go!"

Clark lifts her up and when Lois doesn't feel the rain against her skin anymore, but feels the sun she lifts her head away from his shoulder and notices that the ugly clouds are below them and the sun is shining above them. Clark hovers in one spot.

"How long do you think we need to wait?" she asks.

Clark listens for the baby's heartbeat. He can hear it slowly getting stronger. He smiles.

"What?" Lois asks.

"I can hear it getting louder…."

"Really?" Lois asks, choking back a sob.

Clark looks at her and smiles. "Yes. We'll stay a few more minutes and then head back down."

She reaches up and kisses his cheek.

"He's going to be okay, I can just feel it," Lois says, removing one of her hands and touching her stomach. She gently rubs her belly.

Clark grabs onto her a little tighter since she's only holding on with one arm and he smiles down at her.

"He?"

She nods and rests her head against his shoulder. "Just a feeling."

After a few more minutes, they head back down into the pouring rain and Clark quickly gets Lois back inside. He changes back into Clark Kent and they walk back to the exam room where Emil is still waiting for them.

"You two look happy," Emil states.

"The baby's heartbeat is faster and louder," Clark says, helping Lois to sit back up on the table.

She grabs his hand as Emil lifts her shirt up again and places the stethoscope against her abdomen.

He moves it around to a couple of different spots and then smiles.

"Much better. I want to check on you in a couple of days, though. We can meet at Watchtower…."

Lois holds back tears of joy and she nods. "Of course."

"Thank you, Emil," Clark says, shaking the doctor's hand.

"Don't thank me. Just have another healthy baby."

Emil squeezes Lois' hand and smiles before he walks out, leaving the happy parents.

"Oh my God, Dr. Rasmus…." Lois says, suddenly realizing they left the doctor outside the lab. She checks her cell phone and sees a couple missing calls from him and a voicemail.

She checks the voicemail and Clark smiles, shaking his head at the fact that she's already back in work mode.

"Lois, why don't you take the rest of the day off?" he asks, but she holds up her finger as she listens to the message that he was leaving since he was locked out and that he'd meet up with her at another time to finish the article.

"Shoot," she says, starting to dial the doctor back.

"Lois," Clark says, taking the phone from her. "Please, give it a rest for now….for me?"

She can't refuse that plea or the look on his face. "Okay….take me home."

He leans down and gently kisses her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Surprise News - 6**

_Three weeks before the baby is due…._

Lois walks into the house and tosses her purse onto the living room couch before heading toward the bathroom.

"Lois, are you going to talk to me?" Clark asks, following her inside and noting how she didn't hang up her purse like she usually does when she gets home.

She doesn't answer him so he follows her into their bedroom and sits down on the bed.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"I'm fine," she says from the bathroom, but he can tell by her voice that she's not.

"What's wrong? You haven't said a word since leaving Emil's office."

He picks up a stuffed animal that's on the bed and smiles at it.

He hears the toilet flush and she stands in the bathroom doorway and leans against the frame.

"I can't believe he told me I couldn't go back to work," she says, holding back the tears. "I feel fine…."

"But he obviously thought it would be better for you and the baby if you took it easy the rest of the pregnancy," he says.

He pats the spot on the bed next to him.

She walks over to him and sits down next to him and rests her head against his shoulder.

"But that's the thing. I can't just take it easy. I'll be worried about potential stories I'm missing, I still have to take care of Ella…I mean, she's 5 now Clark. She's starting Kindergarten next week."

When that statement hits her, her chin starts to quiver. "Oh my God….our baby is starting school. She's such a big girl….."

Clark smiles sympathetically and pats her leg. "Yeah, she is."

"I can't just sit around and do nothing," she sniffs.

"You can organize the baby's room. I thought you said there were a couple more things you wanted to buy?"

"That will take me half a day…."

"Maybe Perry can send you a couple of articles you can write from home?"

She thinks about it for a moment. "Maybe."

"Maybe the baby will come early and then you'll have your hands full…."

She smiles. "I'm ready for him to come out," she says, rubbing her very large belly. "I can feel him stretching now, did I tell you that?" she asks.

She takes his hand and moves it to the side of her stomach. "Feel that?"

"Yeah," he smiles.

"I think those are his feet because his legs are stretched out. He's getting ready to sprint out of there. At least I hope he sprints out of there and makes it easy on mommy."

Clark chuckles. "I hope so, too."

"I'm so glad you were here with me for this pregnancy."

"Me too. The good, the bad and the ugly…."

"Ugly?" she asks, lifting her head up from his shoulder.

"Figure of speech."

"No….what was ugly? I mean, I know I'm huge right now…."

"Lois, you're not huge, you're pregnant."

She stands up and puts her hands on her hips.

"So?"

Clark starts to say something but he's lost now. He stands up and wraps his arms around her.

"See, I'm still able to wrap my arms all the way around you," he says, swaying them back and forth.

"Only because you have extra long arms," she pouts.

He leans down and nudges her nose with his so she looks up at him. He gives her a lingering kiss on her lips.

"I love you."

She smiles. "I love you, too. Why do you put up with me?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe because I'd go crazy without you…."

"Good answer," she sighs and rests her head against his chest.

_Two and a half weeks later…._

Martha quickly gets off the elevator of the top floor of the building. When she opens the door to Watchtower she sees Ella playing on the couch with a doll.

"Gwandma," she says, excitedly.

"Hi sweetie," Martha says, bending down to hug her granddaughter.

"Mommy's having the baby," she says with as much enthusiasm that she can muster considering it's way past her bed time.

"I know. Are you excited?"

Ella nods but her eyes get droopy.

Chloe walks over to them and gives Martha a hug when she stands up.

"How are they holding up?" Martha asks her.

"Lois' contractions are about 4 minutes apart now. She's not dilating as quickly as Emil would like, though…."

Ella continues to play with her doll.

"Our driver is going to take Ella to our house. Our housekeeper is with Henry and she'll watch Ella, too. She shouldn't be around to hear her mother's colorful language and screams," Chloe smiles.

Martha chuckles. "True. I'm going to let them know I'm here."

Chloe walks over to Ella and Martha heads toward the makeshift delivery room they've created in Watchtower. She passes by Oliver who is checking his email at a computer.

"Oliver, it's so nice of you to provide all of this equipment for Lois and Clark," Martha says, touching his arm.

He stands up and gives her a quick hug.

"No thanks necessary….I just had the equipment upgraded from when Ella was born. I understand it's too dangerous for Lois to give birth to a half-Kryptonian baby in a regular hospital. Too many questions. We're family."

Martha smiles at him. "You're a good man."

She heads toward the "delivery room". it's basically a corner of Watchtower with removable walls on 3 sides. She knocks on the makeshift door.

"Is now a good time to come in?" Martha asks, sticking her head inside the room.

Emil is sitting at a monitor reading vital signs. Clark is sitting next to the bed and Lois is taking deep breaths since another contraction just past.

"Hi mom," Clark says, standing up so he can walk over to her. He leans down and gives her a hug.

"Hi. How are you holding up?" she asks, looking up at him once they pull apart.

"I'm not the one you should be asking," he says turning toward Lois, who painfully smiles over at Martha.

"Hi mom."

"Hi sweetie….how are you feeling?" she asks, stroking her forehead.

Lois bites down and then nods. "This guy is ready to come out but unfortunately, my body isn't ready to let him out," she says, rubbing her sides.

"Can I get you anything?" Clark asks her.

"Um, honey, I think Chloe is going to have her driver take Ella to their house," Martha says, touching Clark's hand.

"Tell her that I love her and the next time I see her, she'll be a big sister," Lois says with tears in her eyes.

"I will," Clark says, leaning down and giving her a quick kiss.

He leaves the area and heads over to Chloe and Ella.

"Oh, hello Mrs. Kent," Emil says suddenly noticing the new guest in the room.

"Hi Dr. Hamilton. How is our patient doing?" she asks, rubbing Lois' arm.

"Good news is you've dilated another centimeter…"

"And the bad news?" Lois asks.

"You should really be at least another two centimeters more dilated at this stage of your contractions."

"Can we stop the contractions?" she asks. "Or slow them down?"

Emil nods. "Yes, we can try, I just don't know how affective that will be since this isn't a normal birth…."

Lois shuts her eyes and nods.

"Okay, Ella is off safely," Clark says when he returns to the room. He didn't dare tell Lois that Ella threw a crying fit that she wanted to stay and not leave. It broke his heart but he knew she'd be asleep by the time she reached the limo.

"Something wrong?" Clark asks, noticing Lois' closed eyes.

"Clark, I'm going to try to slow down the frequency of the contractions," Emil tells him. "Hopefully Lois will dilate quickly in the next hour or so."

"And if that doesn't work?" Clark asks.

"Normally we'd have to do a C-Section…."

"Is that out of the question?"

Emil looks at Lois, who still has her eyes shut until he notices her wincing in pain again. He then looks at the monitor and notes down that she's having another contraction.

"I don't know, Clark," Emil says, taking Clark to the side. "Her skin is almost as impermeable as yours right now."

"What about Blue K?"

"We'll worry about that as a last resort. I am not going to be officially worried until her contractions are a minute apart and she hasn't dilated another 1 ½ centimeters at least. Then we'll decide on whether we should attempt the operation."

Clark nods and sits back down next to Lois. "Okay."

"Do you need me to get any of you anything?" Martha asks.

"I'm fine, mom, thanks," Clark says, smiling up at her.

"Dr. Hamilton, would you like anything to drink?"

Emil looks over at Martha. "I'm actually going to go grab something to eat in the kitchenette and be back here in a few minutes. Give you two a few minutes alone," he says, touching Clark's shoulder.

Clark nods but doesn't take his eyes off of Lois, who has had her eyes shut for the last minute.

Emil and Martha both leave the area.

"How are you really doing?" Clark asks Lois.

She opens her eyes and shakes her head a little. "I'm scared."

He strokes her cheek.

"Everything will be fine. Emil is a good doctor…"

"I know he is but he doesn't know everything about Kryptonian DNA or births or medical history….he can only guess."

Clark starts thinking.

"What?" Lois asks.

"I wonder if Jor-El would be able to help?" he asks.

"But that means you leaving…."

Clark takes both of her hands in his. "I know."

"I don't want you to take the chance of something happening," she says, starting to get upset.

He hears one of the monitors starting to beep faster so he tries to calm her down.

"Okay, I won't leave. I'll stay right here."

Emil rejoins them. He looks over at the monitor and looks at the tape of the stats from a few seconds before he came in the room. He looks over at Lois and Clark.

"Did you have another contraction while I was gone?" Emil asks.

Lois shakes her head no.

"Okay, I'm going to check one more time," he says, sitting on the chair at the end of the bed. He checks to see how much more she's dilated. "Another centimeter," he nods. "Maybe we won't have to give you this medicine, after all."

Clark gives Lois a reassuring smile.


	7. Chapter 7

Be prepared for cheesy goodness out the whazoo :) Oh and this is the last chapter...after I posted it, I realized people didn't realize it was the last chapter.

**Surprise News - 7**

Another hour goes by and Lois' contractions are now less than a minute apart. Emil feels she's dilated enough.

"Lois….you're going to push for me in a few seconds, okay?" Emil asks as he puts Lois' feet up in the stirrups.

"I want to push now," Lois says, clenching her jaw.

Clark stands next to Lois, holding onto her hand. It's a good thing he can't feel pain because his hand might be broken with as hard as Lois is squeezing it right now.

Martha stands behind Lois and wipes her forehead down with a wet cloth.

"Okay….push," Emil says.

Lois sits up and pushes with all of her might. She screams and when she can't push anymore she lays back against the bed, panting.

"That was good, Lois," Emil says. "The baby is crowning already."

Clark smiles and looks over Emil's shoulder.

"Wow," he says.

Just the look on his face makes Lois happy and almost makes this worth it. Almost.

"Whenever you're ready, Lois," Emil says.

"You're doing great," Clark says, standing closer to Lois again. He takes her hand and puts his other hand behind her back and helps her sit up so she can push again.

She pushes again.

"MOTHER F…."

Chloe and Oliver, who are waiting right outside the room look at each other and Chloe nods. "Yep, this is why I made sure Ella wasn't here."

"Sorry, mom," Lois pants out when she lays back down.

"Oh Lois, you're entitled to say anything you want right now," Martha says as she dabs Lois' forehead with a wet cloth again.

"Lois, the next push should get the shoulders through. I want one really long push…" Emil says, glancing around, making sure he has everything around that he needs.

Lois almost cries. "Okay."

"Whenever you're ready."

"Okay….I can do this," Lois says. Clark can hear the exhaustion in her voice.

"Yes, you can, baby," Clark reassures her. He kisses the back of her hand.

Lois pulls on Clark to help her sit up and she takes a deep breath and starts the long push. After about 30 seconds, she leans a little on Clark, who is now really holding her up. Her body is completely sitting up and she can actually see the baby's head and then shoulders come out. Clark leans over enough so he can see as well.

Emil pulls the baby out the rest of the way.

Lois sits back and is completely exhausted. She wouldn't be able to push again even if she wanted to. Martha touches Lois' shoulders. They hear the baby cry. Clark has been standing close enough that he's been able to see the rest of the birth.

He smiles, with tears in his eyes and looks up at Lois.

"You were right."

"It's a boy?" she asks, smiling.

He nods.

Martha places her fingers to her lips and holds back her tears.

Clark cuts the umbilical cord, using his heat vision, of course. Emil finishes cleaning up the baby and hands him over to Clark.

"Congratulations," Emil says. He returns to cleaning up Lois and the area.

"Here you go, mommy…..here's our son," Clark says, getting choked up. He gently lays the baby on Lois' chest.

"Hi baby boy," Lois says. She counts all of his fingers and toes. She checks both of his ears, his nose, his elbows and his knees.

Martha smiles at the scene. Lois did the same exact thing when Ella was born.

"He's perfect," Lois says, looking up at Clark.

Clark nods.

After a few more minutes, Chloe sticks her head in.

"Is it okay for Ollie and I to come in?" she asks.

"Of course," Clark smiles and waves them in.

"I'll be back to check on you in 15 minutes," Emil says to Lois.

"Thanks, Emil," she smiles at him. He returns the smile.

Sometimes his bedside manner leaves a little to be desired but he's been through both births with her and she wouldn't have been able to get through it without him.

"It's a boy," Lois says, looking at her cousin.

"Oh my God, look how perfect he is," Chloe gushes. "Look at him, Ollie."

"He's beautiful," Ollie agrees. He sees the look in Chloe's eyes. "Uh, don't get any ideas…."

"What?" Chloe asks innocently. "But look how cute and tiny he is."

Lois smiles down at her baby boy. "Chloe, will you put a diaper on him? There should be one over there."

"Of course," Chloe says, gently taking the baby away from Lois.

He starts to fuss a little. Clark walks over to the makeshift changing table to watch Chloe.

"Oh, do you want to do this, Clark?" Chloe asks.

"I've only practiced on dolls," he says.

Chloe keeps her chuckle to herself. Clark can be adorably cute, sometimes. "Okay, well watch me."

She carefully puts the baby's diaper on him, explaining what she's doing while she's doing it.

"Seems easy enough," Clark says.

He glances back over at Lois, who is now resting her eyes. Martha and Oliver are just walking out of the room.

Chloe hands the baby over to Clark and notices the room is empty. "I can stay here the rest of the night, if you want? Or I can come back in the morning. It's up to you guys…."

Clark adjusts the baby in his arms and then glances at Lois. "I think we'll be fine."

Chloe reaches up and kisses his cheek. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks," Clark smiles brightly at her.

"We'll call before we bring Ella over later."

"Thanks," Clark nods.

Chloe leaves the room and Emil enters one more time to check on everyone.

"Do you think he's hungry?" Clark asks.

"He'll let you know when he is. I'll sleep on the bed upstairs in case you need something. Let Lois rest as much as she can."

Clark nods. "I will. Emil, we can't thank you enough."

"Your thanks is enough. Not everyone can say that they delivered the next Superman."

Clark smiles and looks down at his son. Seems strange that he could be right about this tiny little being.

"I should probably put you in your crib, huh?" Clark asks as he sits down next to Lois' bed. "But I don't want to. I want to remember every minute of this."

Even though Lois' eyes are closed she's partially awake and heard what Clark just said. She smiles.

"I missed the first 3 years of your sister's life. I don't intend on missing anything with you. I promise you that."

Lois' head rolls to the side and she opens her eyes. She stares at her 2 boys.

Clark looks up and notices that she's watching them.

"I should put him down, huh?" he asks.

Lois' shakes her head no. "You're fine. He can't get spoiled that quickly," she smiles.

"I just can't get over how tiny he is. Was Ella this small?"

"Oh, Emil will need to weigh him and measure him for me to be sure but this little guy might be a little bigger than Ella was. He's definitely longer," she says, reaching over to touch their son's cheek. "We need to name him."

Clark stands up and sits next to Lois on the bed.

"Oh yeah….a name," Clark says.

"What about what we talked about last week? I think that would be perfect for him…."

"Jonathon Samuel Kent?"

Lois shrugs. "Why not? I name Ella after my mom and your mom….it's only fitting that we honor our fathers. We can call him John or Johnnie…."

"Let's ask Ella which nick name she likes."

Lois smiles. "Perfect."

"Just like you. Lois," he says, shaking his head, "I don't know how you do it. You're so strong and brave…..and tough."

"It's called being a mom, Clark. A lot of women do it."

Jonathon starts to get a little fussy.

"You think he's hungry?" Clark asks.

"Maybe," Lois says, taking the baby from his arms. "Can you help me take this gown down?"

Clark stands up and undoes the back of the hospital gown so she can lower it over her shoulder. She holds the baby to her breast and he immediately starts to suckle.

Clark can't help but stare. Not at the fact that his wife is half naked, that's not even entering his mind. It's such a beautiful thing watching Lois breastfeed.

"Another thing you missed out on with Ella…." Lois sighs, realizing this is the first time Clark has seen her do this.

"Yeah," he says disappointedly. "It's beautiful."

She tugs him to sit back down and she leans up and kisses his cheek.

"I love you."

"I love you, too," he smiles at her.

_Hours later….._

After all of the loose ends were tied up, the baby was weighed and measured, the birth certificate was filled out, both Lois and the baby rested and cleaned up and feeling more normal, Lois told Clark to call Chloe and have her bring Ella to Watchtower.

"I don't see any reason why you can't be home by dinner," Emil was telling Lois and Clark when Chloe walks into the room with Ella clasping her hand.

"You have a big sister who wants to see her baby brother," Chloe says.

Ella's smile is huge.

"We do? Where?" Lois asks, looking around the room.

Ella giggles. "Mommy….."

"I'm just teasing. Come here, baby," Lois says, patting a spot next to her on the bed.

Chloe lifts Ella up and sets her down next to Lois. Lois gives her a huge hug and kisses her on the lips.

"I love you, you know that?"

"I love you, too."

Clark walks over with Jonathon in his arms. He brings him around the bed so that he's closer to Ella.

"Here he is…your little brother," Clark says, watching Ella's face.

Her smile gets even bigger. She reaches out and touches his hand.

"He's small like my dolls," she says, looking back at Lois.

Lois chuckles. "Yeah, he's tiny, isn't he?"

Ella nods.

"What's his name?" she asks.

"Actually, we want you to help us with that," Clark says, he hands Lois the baby. "His name is Jonathon but we want you to decide what nick name we call him."

Ella keeps her eyes on the baby and she touches his bootie covered foot this time. She knows she needs to be very gentle with him so she doesn't squeeze.

"Yeah, do you want to call him Jonathon…..or John…..or Johnnie?" Lois asks.

Ella sits back on the bed and thinks about it. She studies his features as if testing out each name in her mind while looking at him.

Chloe gets a kick out of this scene.

"I like Johnnie," she finally decides.

"Okay, Johnnie it is," Clark says.

"The Kent family is just too adorable for words," Chloe chimes in.

Lois laughs. "Awww, Chlo, you're a part of this family too, you know?"

Chloe smiles at her cousin. "I'm going to go check on things over in the other part of Watchtower. Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks."

Emil walks out with her.

"Can I hold him?" Ella asks.

"Sure, but you'll have to let daddy help you," Lois says.

Clark moves over to take the baby from Lois' arms. He carefully places Johnnie in Ella's arms and helps her support his head.

"There you go, just like that."

Ella giggles. "I think he likes me."

"Of course he does. You're his big sister and he knows that," Lois says.

"When do you get to come home?" Ella asks.

"Actually, we're going to come home this afternoon. So in a few hours," Clark says.

"I have a pwesent."

"You do?" Lois asks.

Ella nods. "I dwew it just for Johnnie, but I didn't know what his name was so I said baby. Aunt Chloe helped me spell it."

"I can't wait to see it," Lois says.

Ella continues to chatter away at a sleeping Johnnie while Clark stands there, supporting her arm so the baby doesn't slide out of her arms.

Lois smiles at her family. Such a different scene than 5 years ago when she had Ella.

~The End~

Such a better scene.


End file.
